You know what they say: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. These days it's most likely that impression will be online. In this piece, we consider the top five mistakes businesses make online that leave a bad taste in customers' mouths.

C-Suite Conversations

When are a Grateful Dead-inspired ringing of Cornell University's chimes, a flamenco show in downtown Portland, and a tai-chi class at New York Presbyterian Hospital considered "digital" content? According to Mykel Nahorniak, co-founder and CEO of Localist, an interactive online calendaring platform, it's when the host organizations use their online event calendars as a means to capture, analyze, and grow audience engagement.

When Kevin Akeroyd took on the role of global CEO of Cision, a global media intelligence and communications solution provider, back in August 2016, he made one major assumption. Coming from a long career providing service solutions for CMOs, Akeroyd believed the integrated, data-centric solutions that marketing teams leverage for paid and owned media (i.e., advertising) would be just as critical for those whose job is to generate earned media, in the form of coverage by journalists and other influencers.

For Edelson and Appetizer Mobile, it's an exciting time to be creating content. "We have all these tools and mediums available to enhance and extrapolate stories," says Edelson. "It gives us an opportunity to create an experience that customers will engage with deeply."

After writing the code that laid the foundation for WP Engine's managed web-hosting platform, Cohen founded WP Engine in 2010, solving four problems he had with his own site: speed, scale, security, and service. "WP Engine's managed hosting platform provides the performance, reliability, and security required by the biggest brands and agencies in the world, while remaining affordable and intuitive for smaller businesses and individuals," says Cohen.

Dror Ginzberg, CEO and co-founder of Wochit,a video creation platform that democratizes video creation, has worked in the software industry with a particular focus on video-related technologies for more than 25 years. "Wochit is my second company," explains Ginzberg. PicApp was the first, and it was co-founded in 2009 and sold to YBrant Digital Ltd. in 2011.